Charles XII
In the east of Poland Lemberg still refuses to give up for the swedes and so Charles XII takes personal ownership of 3 dragoon regiments and take the city in just 15 minutes…
A story tells that when dragoon regiments of Sweden King’s Charles XII attacked L’viv a soldier from Kornyakt Tower by a well-aimed arrow knocked the hat down from the King’s head.
Charles XII, b 17 June 1682 in Stockholm, d 30 November 1718 in Fredrikshald, Norway.
King of Sweden from 1697. In the Great Northern War (1700-21) against the coalition of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony, headed by the Polish king Frederick Augustus II, Charles conquered Denmark, occupied Poland, and forced Augustus to abdicate.
Apart from being a monarch, the King’s interests included mathematics, an d anything that would be beneficial to his warlike purposes. He is attributed to having invented an octal numeral system, which he considered more suitable for war purposes because of all cubic boxes used for materials such as gunpowder.
In the course of the war with Russia Charles entered into negotiations with Hetman Ivan Mazepa initially through the mediation of the new Polish king Stanislaus I Leszczynski, then directly, which were soon formalized in a Ukrainian-Swedish alliance.
In 1704 after Thorn has fell into Swedish hands the poles are quite eager to accept that Polish king Frederick Augustus II should be removed from the polish throne and the 6th of february the polish parliament declares the throne available.
Charles XII candidate Stanislav Leczinski is elected as new king in Poland the 2nd of July.
August is however in no mood to leave his ambitions for the throne and so in July Charles XII marches towards August forces with 33.000 men. During that time August manages to get reinforcements from a Russian army and he begin his march to Warszaw.
Despite a victorius battle by the Swedish generalmajor Meijerfeldt at Posen against overwhelming Saxon forces under command of Schulenberg, the swedes have to regroup at Warsaw.
In the east of Poland Lemberg still refuses to give up for the swedes and so Charles XII takes personal ownership of 3 dragoon regiments and take the city in just 15 minutes. Over 600 garrison troops surrenders and the swedes lost 40 men.
But news reaches Charles XII that August have succeeded in retaken Warsaw from the swedes the 21st of August. Only the castle is still held by Arvid Horn. Charles XII immediately starts to march towards Warsaw the 12th of September.
A story tells that when dragoon regiments of Sweden King’s Charles XII attacked Lviv a soldier from Kornyakt Tower by a well-aimed arrow knocked the hat down from the King’s head.
In the fall of 1708 Charles advanced into Ukraine, where in 1709 he suffered defeat by Russia in the decisive Battle of Poltava.
With the remainder of his army and his Ukrainian allies Charles found refuge in Turkish territory at Bendery, Moldavia.
After Mazepa’s death Charles negotiated an alliance with Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and the Crimean Tatars and induced the Tatars, for a time, to engage in war with Russia (the Prut campaign).
Sources: Encyclopedia of Ukraine, The Great Northern War and Charles XII, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “Vyskoky Zamok” Newspaper
Tags: Charles XII, Kornyakt Tower, Lemberg